DC's New Superman Has a Brilliant Premise—So Why Does It Fall Flat?

Imagine this: Krypton blows up, but instead of the familiar rocket carrying baby Kal-El, only Jor-El himself makes it out alive—and shows up in Kansas as, well, technically Jonathan Kent's brother. That's the whole hook of DC's latest Elseworlds outing, Superman: Father of Tomorrow—and on paper, it's refreshing. We've seen clunky reinventions of Superman so often that genuinely good twists are hard to come by, so giving us a Jor-El-centric take ought to feel bold. But as it turns out, bold is exactly what this new mini-series is not.

The Premise: Jor-El Gets the Farmboy Treatment

Writer Kenny Porter and artist Danny Earls kick things off with Krypton in crisis. Classic, right? But instead of the usual tearful spaceship send-off for his infant son, Jor-El loses both wife and child before he can get them to safety. He’s left the true Last Son of Krypton, crash-landing on Earth alone.

The Kents end up adopting Jor-El—not as a surrogate son, but as Jonathan Kent's brother, who is then renamed 'Jordan.' Yes, it's a bit odd. Jordan keeps his alien tech on the down-low and uses it mainly to turbocharge the Kent farm. He doesn’t exactly throw on a cape and start catching aeroplanes straight away, though—not because he might get outed, but because of that textbook Kryptonian attitude about not meddling with less-advanced worlds.

When Things (Don’t Really) Kick Off

Things finally start moving thanks to a classic Smallville plot device—the local fair. But instead of a romantic hayride, we get Jonathan Kent keeling over from a heart attack. Familiar territory for anyone who's watched the old Christopher Reeve films. The effect here? Rather than the usual sombre meditation on mortality, Jonathan's death gives Jor-El the push to go public, using his intelligence and his powers for the benefit of humanity.

The problem? It's all too familiar. Scenes, lines, even the emotional beats feel recycled from past Superman lore, watered down and taped back up with a Kryptonian sticker.

The Players: Who’s Who in the Cornfields?

• Jordan/Jor-El: Krypton's most tragic dad-turned-secret Kansas alien. Raised as a Kent, but can't escape that big old "no interfering" Kryptonian principle.
• Jonathan & Martha Kent: Still the salt-of-the-earth couple, but now adopting a grown man from the stars instead of a toddler.
• General Sam Lane: Lois's dad, running around chasing aliens and heading up military projects—business as usual.
• Metallo: Instead of your typical cyborg villain, he starts off here as a LexCorp-backed alien-hunting robot, rolled out at a demonstration gone wrong.
• Lex and Lionel Luthor: Lionel’s the one elbow-deep in shady deals supporting Metallo this time, not Lex, but you can’t have a Superman comic without at least one Luthor lurking.
• Lois Lane: Gets some on-the-nose advice from Jor-El about robotics, echoing his mentor role from the films.

A Premise Stuck in Neutral

Jor-El’s grand debut as a superhero involves crashing Metallo’s little test-run. Instead of anything shockingly new, you get a series of déjà vu moments—like Jor-El dropping 'a friend' as his big introduction (sound familiar?), or gently lecturing a young Lois Lane about tech.

To be clear, nothing here is offensively bad. The art is solid, the script ticks along at a decent pace, but for all its Elseworlds potential, Superman: Father of Tomorrow seems determined to play it safe. If you're waiting for a proper twist or any wild reimagining of the Superman myth, it's not in issue #1.

'There’s a strong sense that we’ve seen all this before. It’s possible future chapters will take this unique concept in new directions. However, the first chapter seems incredibly uninspired.'

Superman: Father of Tomorrow #1 is in comic shops now.